Crescent City Classic warns race-goers of parking pitfalls

The Crescent City Classic is hoping the message has gotten out this year: Parking on the neutral ground alongside City Park is illegal.

There was quite an uproar at last year’s Classic when more than 1,000 race-goers returned to their vehicles to find their cars had been ticketed by the city.

Gary Gomez, the Classic’s elite athlete coordinator, said much more has been done to notify the public of the parking regulations around City Park and to come up with alternatives for the nearly 20,000 participants.

One result of the incident is Delgado Community College’s City Park campus will open its parking lots to provide space to the public for $20 a car.

“Delgado has opened up their lots for the Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon, the Voodoo Fest and all these things,” said Henry Kothmann, treasurer of the Crescent City Fitness Foundation, which puts on the Classic. “Any event they do they charge just a flat $20.”

Kothmann said the fee will go toward fund-raising at Delgado.

The Crescent City Classic also will offer several complimentary parking options, although they will be available only for a specific amount of time. Parking options in the park include on and near Dreyfous Drive near City Park’s tennis courts and Botanical Gardens. There also will be space available on Victory Avenue between Marconi Drive and Roosevelt Mall.

Kothmann said all of these parking options are complimentary, but they will close at 6:30 a.m.

“It’s paramount that people get in there before 6:30 because that’s when we shut it down,” he said.

Said Gomez: “We’re going to put the yellow caution tape that evening before, up and down on as many spots as we can get to. We’ve highlighted it in the application just about as much as possible, plus we do have shuttles coming up and down, so that people have transportation from where they parked legally.”

Those shuttles will begin running from Beau Bassich Circle at the end of Roosevelt Mall at about 6 a.m. and will be complimentary. The race starts in Jackson Square at 8:30 a.m.

“People need to get there early to make sure we get them there for the beginning,” Kothmann said.

Race participants also can park downtown, walk to the start and catch a shuttle after the race to Canal Street.

All of this, Gomez hopes, will offset the need for people to park on the neutral ground next to City Park.

“Signs last year were barely readable and far apart and hard to find,” Gomez said. “I passed there twice this week, and every pole and every possibility has a sign on it right now. Most of them are pretty highly visible and new. That’s one of the pluses of what’s been done.”

The city voided many of last year’s tickets because of the outcry, and Gomez said the race organizers were able to repay others.

“We’re not looking for anything for that. We just felt the event was able to do it, and we wanted to make our customers whole — and that’s what we did,” Gomez said. “So there was a portion forgiven, but not everything. It is what it is.”

Attempts to contact city officials and Delgado Community College were unsuccessful.